NEWTOWN MASSACRE

Sandy Hook families ride on Air Force One

To personally encourage senators to back gun control

Published: 04/08/2013 at 1:51 PM

(WASHINGTON.CBSLOCAL) — President Barack Obama is providing rides to 11 relatives of those killed in the shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School so they can attend his gun control speech Monday before heading to Washington on Air Force One to personally encourage senators to back gun legislation that faces tough opposition.

After Obama’s speech in Hartford, relatives of seven children and one staffer killed during December’s massacre at the school will travel back to Washington with him, according to the nonprofit organization that works with the families, Sandy Hook Promise.

The White House says Obama is going to argue in his speech that lawmakers have an obligation to the children killed and other victims of gun violence to act on his proposals.